U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041 describes a method and apparatus for progressive jackpot gaming in which a separate bet is utilized in a Twenty-One game. As described in that patent, a player may make an additional wager to be eligible to participate in a separate progressive jackpot. If during the play of the normal Twenty-One game the player achieves a predetermined arrangement of cards, the player wins all or part of the progressive jackpot amount.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,041, the predetermined arrangement of cards that resulted in winning hands and the respective payoff amounts from the progressive jackpot in a Twenty-One game were as follows:
______________________________________ Winning Hand Amount of Jackpot ______________________________________ Four 5's and an Ace 100% Ace, two, three, four, 4% five and six Six, seven and eight 100 tokens of same suit Three 7's 50 tokens ______________________________________
In practice, however, it became apparent that this predetermined arrangement of cards as the winning hands affected the play of the normal Twenty-One game. If a player were attempting to achieve one of the winning jackpot arrangements, the player may have to make card selection, or "hit," decisions during the play of the Twenty-One game that would be detrimental to his chances of winning the normal Twenty-One game. For example, if "Four Fives and an Ace" wins 100% of the progressive jackpot, a player holding two Fives and an Ace (a hand count of 21) would have to take a "hit" if the player were attempting to win the progressive jackpot amount. Since a 21 hand count is a very strong hand in Twenty-One, a player taking a hit on a hand of two Fives and an Ace would be risking a hand count that at worst would result in a tie, or "push," with the dealer.
It is an object of the present invention to provide predetermined arrangements of cards that constitute winning hands for the progressive jackpot component of a Twenty-One game where the predetermined arrangement of cards does not affect the play of the normal Twenty-One game.
It is a feature of the present invention that a predetermined arrangements of cards that constitute winning hands for the progressive jackpot component of a Twenty-One game (such as an Ace, Two, Three, Four and Five suited; a Two, Three, Four and Five suited; a Four, Five and Six suited; a Four, Five and Six unsuited; an Ace-Jack suited; any Blackjack Suited and any Blackjack, which are the preferred predetermined arrangements of cards when any number of decks are used) are selected so that the predetermined arrangement of cards does not affect the play of the normal Twenty-One game.
It is another feature of the present invention that a predetermined arrangements of cards that constitute winning hands for the progressive jackpot component of a Twenty-One game (such as Five Three's unsuited; Three Five's suited; a Four, Five and Six suited; a Four, Five and Six unsuited and an Ace-Jack suited, which are the preferred predetermined arrangements of cards when a six deck shoe is used) are selected so that the predetermined arrangement of cards does not affect the play of the normal Twenty-One game.
It is an advantage of the present invention that a player may attempt to achieve one of the predetermined arrangement of cards that will win all or part of the progressive jackpot component of the normal Twenty-One game without affecting the normal play of the Twenty-One game.